Distributed Objects

DistributedObject component synchronizes the GameObject state on the cluster simulation clients. DistributedObject can limit broadcasts sent by the DistributedComponents added to the children GameObjects and by default changes the part of components' keys.

Custom Key top#

Every object synchronized in the cluster simulation required a unique key that is the same on every machine and cannot change after initialization. DistributedObject uses own path in the hierarchy as the unique key as a default implementation, but the synchronization will fail if there are two GameObjects with the same name in the same hierarchy path. The key of a DistributedObject can be changed by any component attached to the same GameObject which implements the IGloballyUniquelyIdentified interface. When registering a DistributedObject search if there is an IGloballyUniquelyIdentified implementation attached to the GameObject if an implementation is available GUID is used as the key prefix. If the GUID is null or empty registration waits until GUID changes to a not empty value.

Advanced top#

DistributedObject implementation provides features that require additional scripting. This section describe advanced use cases that can be achieved with the DistributedObject.

Selective Distribution top#

Some objects should not be distributed to all the connected clients. It is possible to limit the distribution by setting the Selective Distribution to True and adding endpoints to the list (using AddEndPointToSelectiveDistribution method). With Selective Distribution enabled only endpoints on the list will receive updates from the DistributedObject and all the DistributedComponents in children.

Selective distribution is prepared for the use-case when more logic has to be handled by the client. For example, if a client should count the waypoints of selected NPC those waypoints have to be synchronized between that client and master. In this case, pathfinding will be calculated on the client, the master will perform the simulation updates and other clients will not be informed about those changes.

Authoritative Object top#

Available distributed components in the Simulator got different logic for the master and client. All the objects on the master are authoritative and send their state to the clients, where nonauthoritative objects apply the changes. This behavior can be changed by setting the custom value to the protected property IsAuthoritative, but it has to be done in the overridden Initialize method before calling the base method.

In the case from the previous paragraph Selective Distribution client would perform the pathfinding and set the waypoints positions. In this case, the client sets the position of those GameObjects and has to send them to the master. To reverse the behavior where a master is sending the position of a DistributedRigidbody to the client, IsAuthoritative property has to be reversed (false value on the master and true on the client). This way client will update the master with the Rigidbody changes.